It is claimed that statistics can prove any fact or any fiction, depending upon your perspective. For example, US cigarette manufacturers’ claim disproportionately fewer of their customers die of heart attacks in their eighties than the general population. Sure, because smokers drop off the twig in their sixties.

I unintentionally caused a kerfuffle over my non-attendance at the June Tan, as the Red Carpet had been rolled out and at hideous expense a lavishly appointed plaque had been struck in honour of little old humble me. One thing missing, the recipient.

It would seem that my much lauded May appearance triggered a belief that I had miscalculated my accumulated Tans and was expecting to receive the aforementioned award and the adulation of the assembled fellow Road Runners. Nothing could be further from the truth. In keeping with my practice of being consistently inconsistent, it was a mere out of the blue ad hoc impromptu performance.

So where was the confusion? I was convinced that I was a few Tans short of the coveted century. Uninitiated in the black arts of the Tan statistics, it seems you need to add 4 & 8, which obviously equals 100. Furthermore, if you multiply 8 times 97, then add the product of 3 times 4, magically also equals 100! Simple. By the way, no need to remember the number you first started with.

Regardless, I magnanimously accept this award, on a morning forecast to be shrouded in fog, yet turned out chilly and overcast. However, the mist of mystery swirls around the dark and sinister back room dealings of the statistician.

Thanks for reading

Tony Freegard
Agent 99

PS. Mr Statistician, please examine your records, as I believe I proudly hold the record for taking the longest time in history, spanning many decades to accumulate one hundred Tans.

Grant Padula
Hey Graham
Give all my regards but I have just come out of an operation to reattach my hamstring tendon to my pelvis after rupturing it on a run on long weekend after tripping on a tree root!. Slow recovery but operation was a success according to the surgeon. Should be back slow jogging in 3 months and reading again in 6 months.
Regards
Grant

Are run clubs the new ‘third places’ we desperately need?

These days in Sydney, if you’re up and out of the house early enough, you’ll probably spot a run club, or you’ll see one of your friends post about their run club on social media.

These runners will brave the weather to get their bodies moving, but it’s more than just a work out.

Meakins moved from Perth to Sydney in April 2022. Wanting to make new friends while keeping active, she tried to find a run club.

Instead she found Hannah, who was also searching for a run club in the Coogee area.

Just weeks after Meakins settled down in Sydney, Coogee Run Club was formed, but on the inaugural run, it was just her, Hannah, and two others.

Fast forward to 2024, there are now over 2000 members, the biggest run they ever did was in January this year, where over 250 people joined, but even now in winter, the group is still going strong.

She hates the phrase “Covid times”, but she attributes the rise of the run club to the pandemic years, where people were forced to work out in ways that were accessible to them.

Gyms were closed, classes weren’t open, but people could run outside, but when restrictions rolled back, she suspects doing those sorts of physical activities were no longer enough.

“I think something changed in like this human condition, where going to a gym, doing a half-hour workout, doing an hour’s workout, and leaving – it doesn’t fill us with any sense of purpose or belonging,” she told TND.

“I think we need more in our lives now, and being part of a run club gives you so much more than just a workout.”

Coogee Run Club meets five times a week, but it has a “social first” philosophy, so after a run, the group will get coffee or dinner.

Meakins has seen people become more fit and active as they come week-after-week, some even tell her how they have lost weight. But the most rewarding part for her is hearing how the club has benefitted members’ mental health.

The mobile ‘third space’

The home is most people’s first place of connection, their work-place is their second, their third place could be anywhere they find social connection like a bar, cafe or church.

There has been discussion around the lack of “third spaces” over the past few years. Some would have disappeared thanks to Covid, but also due to the cost-of-living crisis, some people just aren’t accessing them because it’s costly.

In a way, run clubs have become a kind of mobile third space for those who partake.

“It’s definitely that third place where people can come and sort of escape the office or home,” Meakins said of her run club.

“It’s definitely become that place for a lot of people.”

She said this is especially true for many of the expats who have joined Coogee Run Club. The eastern suburbs are somewhat of a melting pot for people from around the world, Meakins even jokes Coogee could be the 33rd county of Ireland.

“People come here [to the eastern suburbs] and they don’t have any family, best friends, uni friends. Same as me, I’m from Perth,” she said.

“I moved here, I lasted  two or three weeks before I said ‘we should do run club’, because I was so desperate to find a community where I could make friends with people who are also very like minded in wanting to be healthy and fit and active.”

Together, the club has even celebrated holidays together and Meakins believes the friends she has made through running will be with her for the rest of her life.

“This is the number one thing that I’m most proud of, not just establishing the run club, but it’s seeing the effect that it has on people,” she said.